Week 13 - Egg Nog Pancakes!

I don't know about you, but I love Christmas, particularly relaxing with the ones you love and eating amazing food.  I could honestly do without all the stress of holiday shopping and finding the "perfect gift".  To me, a well prepared meal made with love is all you need.  To get in the Christmas spirit, I made Egg Nog Pancakes this weekend.  

I love Egg Nog, so I thought I'd substitute buttermilk for the stuff in this weekend's pancakes.  I actually made two batches to see which one would turn out better.  In the first batch I substituted all the buttermilk with EggNog.  Then thinking that this may be too heavy, I made a second batching using half buttermilk, half egg nog.  I added a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg so I didn't lose that nice little flavor boost by cutting the egg nog in half.

Full Egg Nog on left, half and half on right

The smell that filled my kitchen when the batter hit the hot griddle was amazing.  It reminded me of the smell of freshly made donuts or a yummy bakery.  I wish I had a candle that captured this smell!

Taste Test

So after having my husband do a blind taste, he chose the recipe with all egg nog and no buttermilk.  I agreed with his choice, I found the half and half recipe to be a bit bland.  Surprisingly the egg nog didn't make the pancake dense or heavy.  Just make sure you really whip the egg whites with the egg nog until they start to become frothy.  Also, room temperature eggs whip up better than really cold egg whites.  Below is the winning recipe.  Jó étvágyat!

  EGG NOG PANCAKES:

• 2 eggs, separated
• 2 cups Egg Nog
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 cups "Instant" Pancake Mix
• 1 stick butter, for greasing the pan

1. Heat an electric griddle or frying pan to 350 degrees F. Heat oven to 200 degrees F.

Whisk together the egg whites and the Egg Nog in a small bowl. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the melted butter.
2. Combine the Egg Nog mixture with the egg yolk mixture in a large mixing bowl and whisk together until thoroughly combined. Pour the liquid ingredients on top of the pancake mix. Using a whisk, mix the batter just enough to bring it together. Don't try to work all the lumps out.

3. Check to see that the griddle is hot by placing a few drops of water onto to the griddle. The griddle is ready if the water dances across the surface.
4. Lightly butter the griddle. Wipe off thoroughly with a paper towel. (No butter should be visible.)
5. Gently ladle the pancake batter onto the griddle.  When bubbles begin to set around the edges of the pancake and the griddle-side of the cake is golden, gently flip the pancakes. Continue to cook 2 to 3 minutes or until the pancake is set.
6. Serve immediately or remove to a towel-lined baking sheet and cover with a towel. Hold in a warm place for 20 to 30 minutes.

Week 12 - Hot Chocolate Pancakes

This weekend we picked out our Christmas tree.  It was a nice chilly night and usually, we grab a cup of hot chocolate to warm up.  But, we forgot this time, so I though I'd make up for it by making hot chocolate pancakes.
The turned out pretty good; whipping the egg whites until they're nice and white and frothy helps make the pancakes fluffy.  I sprinkled mini marshmallows on the batter once on the hot griddle.  I don't recommend mixing them in to the batter because they will likely just melt right in to the batter.  Although once you flip the pancakes, they melt into the batter then too.  But there are still a few pockets of marshmallow gooey-ness.  I used 2/3 cup of sugar in this recipe, but you could probably add more if you want it to be sweeter.
Once the pancakes were done, I topped them with homemade chocolate syrup (see recipe below) and more marshmallows.  Jó étvágyat!

Hot Chocolate Pancakes
Ingredients
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 tablespoons butter, melted, plus more for the pan/griddle
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, separated
Mini mashmallows
Chocolate syrup (recipe below)

Directions
1. Mix together the dry ingredients.
2. Whisk together the butter, buttermilk, and egg yolks.  Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until white and frothy.  Mix in to the buttermilk mixture.
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix.
4. Preheat and pan or griddle over medium high heat and coat with butter.
5. Ladle pancake batter onto pan/griddle, top with mini marshmallows.  Cook for 2-3 minutes or until bubbles form around the edges.  Flip and cook for 2-3 more minutes, or until browned.

Looks like the top of a cup of hot chocolate!

You get funny little nooks and crannies in the pancakes as the marshmallows melt in to the batter.  Kinda neat.

6. Top with chocolate syrup and more mini marshmallows.

Chocolate Syrup
Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
1. Combine sugar, water, cocoa powder, and salt in a saucepan and cook over low heat.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently until it starts to thicken.
2. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.  Put it in to a condiment squeeze bottle.  Serve warm.  Refridgerate if not using until later.

Week 11 - Cranberry Walnut Pancakes

There are so many things I love about this time of year; the Christmas spirit, lights, Christmas trees, hot chocolate, cold weather, and the food.  Then there are things I like not so much; shopping, the crowds, and rude people who are more concerned about snagging the gift or getting through lines than being nice, courteous human beings.
With all the things I love about this time of year, my creative cooking juices are flowing.  So I wanted a pancake that captures the spirit.  Cranberries and walnuts came to mind.  I added a bunch of each to the Simply Perfect pancakes, and topped with toasted walnuts and syrup.  If you don't want to be overloaded with cranberries and walnuts, you may want to scale back on the amount of each in this recipe.  But I liked getting a bite of each in every forkful. Jó étvágyat!

Ingredients:
5 oz. dried cranberries
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions:
1. Prepare pancake batter per instructions from Week 5.
2. Using a wooden spoon, mix the dried cranberries and walnuts into the batter.
3. Brush melted butter on to a griddle/pan over medium-high heat.  Ladle the batter onto the griddle/pan.  When bubbles begin to set around the edges of the pancake, gently flip and continue to cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until lightly browned.

4. Meanwhile, toast chopped walnuts in a pan.  Top pancakes with the toasted walnuts and syrup.

Week 10 - Cinnamon Bun Pancakes

Going in to this weekend I had no clue what to make for breakfast.  This week has been pretty hectic for us, so I completely forgot about what the next pancake recipe would be.  That is, until late Friday evening.  My creative juices weren't flowing, so I did a quick internet search and came up with there Cinnamon Bun pancakes.  Just the kind of comfort food we need after a pretty stressful week.

The recipe was also perfect in that it required a little more work, which is just the kind of stress relief and distraction I could use right now.  One of my favorite ways to unwind is cooking and baking.  But, if you're looking for a simple recipe, you may want to save this for another time.

For this recipe you make the Perfectly Simple Pancake, add in a swirl of cinnamon, and finally top with a cream cheese glaze.  For the cinnamon swirl, I recommend making it ahead of time, allowing it to cool.  By cooling it, the swirl holds its shape better and doesn't mix completely with the batter.  The swirl adds a nice burst of flavor and a little crunch to it too.  The warm, gooey cream cheese frosting also is a great compliment to this pancake.  All together, the final product is just like a cinnamon bun in pancake form.  Jó étvágyat!

Ingredients: 

CINNAMON FILLING:
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, just melted (not boiling)
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg

CREAM CHEESE GLAZE:
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
2-ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. To prepare the cinnamon filling, stir together the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Scoop the filling into a condiment squeeze bottle and allow to cool so it reaches the consistency of a paste (you could use a ziploc baggie but I find the bottle to be far less messy and easier to control).   

Squeeze bottle of cinnamon goodness :-)

Not to nice swirl using a plastic bag

2. To prepare the glaze, heat the butter over low heat until melted. Turn off the heat and whisk in the cream cheese until it is almost smooth. Sift the powdered sugar into the pan, stir and add in vanilla extract. Keep warm until ready to serve.
3. Prepare pancakes as described in the Perfectly Simple Pancake post.
4.  Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat and brush with melted butter.  Ladel the batter onto the pan.   
5. When bubbles form around the edges of the pancakes, swirl the cinnamon mixture on top of the pancake.   

Pretty swirl design

6. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, flip, and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.  

7. Serve with the swirl side facing up and drizzle with the cream cheese glaze.

*Make sure you wipe the pan clean before cooking up another batch, otherwise you will end up with a sticky cinnamon-y mess. 

Post-cinnamon swirl and flip.  Lots of gooey cinnamon.  Hence the need for cleanup before the next batch.